Global Warming: The Complete Briefing

by John Theodore Houghton

Book Overview

How much of global warming is due to human activities? How far will it be possible to adapt to changes of climate? Sir John Houghton's definitive, full colour guide to climate change answers these... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521528747
• ISBN13: 9780521528740
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 382 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Global Warming

Product was exactly how it was described, in great condition with little to no marks on the inside. thanks!

Yes, It Really Is A Good Complete Briefing on Global Warming

The title of the book "Global Warming - The Complete Briefing" is aptly named, as it is an excellent briefing, or primer, on the subject of global warming. The book avoids the politics of global warming, which can grow tiresome to those of us who actually work in the climate change field. Instead, the book focuses on the basic science behind global warming, and is a very balanced, non-partisan approach to causes, effects, uncertainties, and potential impacts. The reading level of the book is college level science, similar to a beginning or intermediate level physical science or meteorology class. If you are looking for an over-all guide to the science of global warming, this is a great book. If you are looking for a less academic, more popular-culture point of view on global warming, look into "Hell and High Water - Global Warming - The Solution and the Politics and What We Should Do" by Joseph Romm for an eminently enjoyable, easily readable guide to some of political and cultural aspects of global warming.

Here is the review I made on this book for class - Umass Boston.

The book "Global Warming: The Complete Briefing, Third edition" by John Houghton is a great guide to understanding how global warming works and how it affects us. It offers many details and explains how much of the Earth climate phenomena work, and how human activity is altering Earth's climate. In this book review, I will go through the book and discuss what the strong points of each chapter were. I will end up the review by discussing the book's relevance to the class and offering a few suggestions. Chapter 1, Global Warming and Climate Change, offers a great introduction to the book by explaining the concept of global warming. It talks about how, every year, human activity adds up more emissions of green house gases into an atmosphere that already contains 7 thousand million tones of carbon dioxide. The part that I consider the most helpful is figure 1.5 which talks about how climate change is integrated with human activity. This integration consists of Emissions and Concentrations of Greenhouse gases that lead to Climate Change, which Impacts Human and Natural systems. The diagram closes the loop by illustrating how Socio-economic developments can lead to mitigating the Emissions and Concentrations of Greenhouse gases. In many ways, this is the purpose of this book, to make people understand that it is up to us to develop Socio Economic paths to make use of our technology and governance to control the problem of Global warming. This is also the basis for Sustainable Development. Chapter 2, The Greenhouse Effect, focuses on explaining the Greenhouse Effect in great detail. The strong points of this chapter are the diagrams presented in figure 2.2 and 2.6. Figure 2.2 shows an actual greenhouse and explains that the roof of the greenhouse keeps the sun rays from escaping easily, hence increasing the temperature. Figure 2.6 shows the Earth's "radiation budget" this puts into perspective how the clouds, the atmosphere and greenhouse gases all play roles in how much radiation from the sun is reflected back out into space, and how much is actually bounced back to Earth and remains as heat. Chapter 3, The Greenhouse Gases, is about the various gases that induce global warming. The important part of this chapter is that it lets us know how much of each gas counts as a greenhouse gas. This is important for us to measure how much human activity accounts for global warming. The chapter explains that Carbon Dioxide is the main component of greenhouse gases and most of this gas is the result of human activity. Figure 3.1 is rather complicated, but it does a good job in explaining how the global carbon cycle is accumulating carbon in the atmosphere because the Earth can not readily soak up the extra carbon being produced by human activity. This is a key element for us to realize the extent of the problem that we have here. The yearly accumulation of Carbon in the atmosphere, as Carbon Dioxide, makes the problem harder to solve as time goes by. Chapter

Fair, balanced, scientific, non-partisan, clear.

I have to take immediate issue with the [anonymous] reviews below that claim that this book doesn't address the difference between natural climate cycling and anthropogenic climate change: that difference, in a nutshell, is PRECISELY what this book deals with. Those reviewers never read it, or failed completely to follow its line of reasoning. This is NOT a partisan, political, ideological book. It is simply a guided tour of the science of climate change, revised in 2004. It carefully parses the current research. Read the table of contents [you can click on it at the top of the page] and see that the book is organized around the following inevitable questions: Is climate changing? How much is it changing? How much of that change is caused by people? What are the likely effects, short- and long-term, of these changes? What can we do about it? In the case of climate change, despite all of the political complications that have accrued to what was originally science, these questions are PRECISELY the ones a thinking person needs to ask. To have a book structured around them, referring, as it does, to the best [scientific, independently-refereed] research is a gift. It seems that almost everybody today picks their position on climate change as part of an ideological package-deal: most American conservatives almost automatically disdain the science because the Bush White House and Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter disdain it. Most American progressives almost automatically embrace the NOTION of climate change without actually knowing the science, because Al Gore, et al, have told them to. Both positions, taken in ignorance of the science, are ideolgical and symptomatic of the worst party-line politics. I urge you to read the science. It will take some effort, but that effort is our civic duty. This book has no agenda other than compiling the research and putting it before the reading public in an accessible format.

Informative and stimulating overview of global warming issue

This is the first book I have read on global warming. Sir John Houghton has provided a carefully written account, with good explanations, fairly thorough referencing, and informative charts and figures. The subject of global warming is presented from a multifaceted perspective, with both informative factual material as well as elements of a personal perspective, introduced in a non-forceful but persuasive manner. The book is aimed at those who know little about climatology or global warming. It will help to have some general scientific background. The pertinent facts - how much we have increased the atmosphere's CO2 concentration, in what way this gas effects the earth's energy balance, etc. - are available here, and the information is referenced to primary scientific sources. The prognosis for a warming of the atmosphere is gently asserted in the affirmative, but the uncertainties are also presented. Without being a climatologist, I found most of my qestions of this nature were answered. The only point I was curious about but found missing was what recent changes in glaciers tell us about the present tendency of global temperature. After presenting the data, the models and arguing gently for a moderate warming tendency, Houghton presents several nice chapters on effects (potentially severe) and responses to the problem, with a particular emphasis on energy. The suggested responses leave one with the sense that Houghton is an optimist. He incites to action, where it is hard to imagine today's politicians asking us to change our habits so fundamentally. This book is stimulating, both on the subject of global warming (whether or not it is occurring, how much, what is our role), as well as on the potential consequences and suitable responses. Considering that a response is advisable - a point of view which Houghton advances - one is left with a sense of the large scale of the responses which are necessary to reverse the accumulation of CO2: is mankind's ability to improvise its way out of a fix capable of dealing with a problem whose solution would require changes of this magnitude?